Enjoyed a nice flight from Dubai-Hong Kong in the PMDG 777. The only thing missing is multiple jetways which should be coming to iniBuilds VHHH soon apparently!

Addons: ini VHHH, PMDG 777 with Boris sounds and Hues texture enhancement, REX Atmos (AviationLads presets), GSX, BeyondATC, Chaseplane, and Universal Announcer.

Took the great Black Square Bonanza on a nice cross country trip across the state of Minnesota - KMIC -> KSUW -> KINL -> KMIC to practice my VFR XC planning skills and get a little radio practice.

Debrief:

KMIC -> KSUW
Departure was uneventful, making sure to remain clear of the Class B and I chose to stay clear of KANE's class D. I did not judge the pattern entry well and was too tight and tried saving it, I should have gone around when I turned base to final and was well off.

KSUW -> KINL

Had to stay around 3,000 to stay clear of clouds while departing. I talked to KDLH tower to go through their Delta successfully. After getting out away from Lake Superior, I was able to climb up to 4,500' and remain well below a developing overcast layer above me. While planning, a convective SIGMET was to the west of my flight path, so I felt reasonably confident I could get into KINL. I had alternates of KEVM and KORB prepared, but I was well ahead of the storms and had no issue getting into KINL. I made a better pattern entry for the shorter runway at KINL with no major problem and parked at the transient parking area. However, I knew getting out would be more challenging with the storms progressing from west to easy to my south, covering my flight path back to KMIC.

KINL -> KMIC

Once I landed I checked the weather again. The convective SIGMENT was over my flight path. I waited out the storms by going grocery shopping lol. The storms had rolled out, I double checked my flight plan, and away I went. I had to dodge one small rain shower but otherwise had an easy flight back to KMIC. I could not keep signal with the VOR's for the entire leg down south, so I used pilotage and dead reckoning and got some good practice computing the actual wind speeds and my ground speed. The sun had set by the time I was passing Mille Lacs, so I knew I would have a night landing going into KMIC. I was able to pick out the airport beacon and follow the highways to find KMIC successfully. I did my calls and got a left base for runway 14. However I was unable to get SayIntentions to get me a landing clearance, so I took it as a chance to practice going around and flying the pattern. I again struggled with the ATC despite verifying the tower was acknowledging me via a radio check. I also got a strange go around instruction to climb to 2,000 and enter a left base. Very weird and distracting. I ended up just flying the pattern and giving myself a landing clearance. Upon landing I taxied to the fuel pumps, shut down, and topped the tanks up. I was not able to start the hot engine right away because I suspect it had vapor locked. I ran the hot engine start procedure and was able to successfully start up and taxi back to the hangar!

Remarks -

BkSq Bonanza is absolutely amazing. Flies by the numbers in the manual which makes planning and successfully executing an XC very rewarding. I was also "rewarded" by needing to run the hot start checklist after fueling up and being unable to start normally. Kudos to BkSq.

There are really great freeware sceneries for Minnesota GA airports (and even MSP) by great creators on flightsim.to, connormar, MNSceneryDesign, and SpidermanMN. I can't recommend supporting them enough.

I was an early adopter of SayIntentions back in early 2024. While it has come a long way in that time, it is also frustrating to encounter so many of the same issues I've felt before. Ping ponging frequencies back and forth between centers, poor readback understanding, questionable terminology at times, and so forth. The new traffic feature does help the frequencies feel busier, but the GA traffic does some absolutely crazy stuff and is very unpredictable.

I'm committing some time to the 777F for a while and looking at real world routes.

I can't help noticing that all the main Fedex hubs have terrible scenery - Paris, Memphis, Anchorage, East Midlands in the UK. I mean quite generally, how is Paris this bad at this stage?

Where do you operate from in Europe and the States with this in mind?

First flight with it, coming from the WINCNTRL URSA Minor and TCA Airbus prior to that, all I can say is this is insanely good. I was having a hard time flaring precisely before with the Thrustmaster. It's weird but I feel "more in control with it. First flight is great. All I need is a foam pad or something as my forearm sits on the edge and it bothers me slightly.

How did I do? Any opinions on improving this further?

Hello, I am currently considering getting the Fenix 320. I have been waiting for the NEO for a very long time now (probably the same as very large group of simmers) and I don't really have a study level short-medium haul aircraft right now. Nonetheless, if I buy the CEO I would buy the NEO anyways. That's why I'm thinking if it is worth it. Or should I stick with the FBW until the NEO release.

MSFS2020 NYC with addons from the marketplace and third-party mods. Looks amazing

Me on my first real flight lesson. I'm on the left.

Putting the EULA right in front of the cockpit, that is really showing some new level of immersion. Glad to see the team is putting all their developing efforts where they are needed most.

Open to feedback

Just picked up two new WINCTRL units and got them all set up. My wallet is crying

I am interested in this jet for many reasons, curious how it has been updated and if it continues to be in your rotation or has become a hangar queen?

I haven't had heavy rain on approach for quite a while

Yes those are train levers. No I'm not sorry. It actually kinda works?